Starting Strength, 3rd Edition - Mark Rippetoe [90]
Figure 5-1. The bench press has a long, rich history. Left to right, top to bottom: Bill Kazmaier, Rickey Dale Crain, Pat Casey, Doug Young, Mel Hennessy, Jim Williams, Mike Bridges, Mike MacDonald, Ronnie Ray.
The modern version of the bench press, like the squat, depends on an additional piece of equipment other than the bar for its execution. Until the upright support bench came into widespread use in the 1950s, the lifter had to lie on the floor and pull the bar into position, or lie on a flat bench and pull the bar up from the floor, over the head, and into position over the chest. Controversy abounded as technique was evolving, with questions about the legitimacy of assistance in getting the bar into position, the use of a heave from the belly, and even the use of an arch in the lower back, causing debate among physical culturists all over the world. Nowadays, the bench-press bench – the upright-support bench, as opposed to the plain flat bench – is standard gym equipment, and only a few innovative thinkers in the powerlifting community bother with doing the exercise the old, harder, and probably better way. After all, the more involved the exercise, the more the exercise involves in terms of muscle, nerve, and control.
The dumbbell version of the exercise, which actually predates the barbell version due to its less specialized equipment requirements, involves a greater amount of instability, which is inherent in having two separate chunks of metal waving around in the air over your chest. This is especially true if the weights used are sufficiently heavy to challenge your ability to actually finish the set. Most trainees use dumbbell bench presses as a light assistance movement, and never appreciate how hard they are or how useful they can be at heavy weights. They are performed on a simple flat bench, and the lifter has to take the dumbbells out of the rack or off the floor, get into position on the flat bench, do the set, and then get off the bench with them after finishing it. These movements are as large a part of the exercise as is getting to look at your arms in the mirror. Because dumbbells are not tied together between the hands as a barbell is, dumbbell bench presses require more active, conscious control, are harder to do, and are therefore less commonly done. The problem with dumbbell bench presses is that the equipment provides its own limitations in a progressively increasing program. Most dumbbell racks are not graduated in fine-enough increments due to the expense of having twice as many dumbbells as most gyms have the money or space for. Plate-loaded dumbbell handles that would permit such loading are not widely available, of sufficient quality that they are safe at heavy weights, or capable of being handled without a lot of help from two spotters. And with heavy weights, getting on and off the bench becomes such a large part of the task of completing the set that the logistics are a giant pain in the ass.
So, as good an exercise as the dumbbell bench may be, you will be bench pressing with a barbell, as the weight of history and precedent demands. The bench press, or supine press (one occasionally sees old references to the “prone press” in badly edited sources), is a popular, useful exercise. It is arguably the best way to develop raw upper-body strength, and done correctly, it is a valuable addition to your strength and conditioning program.
The bench press actively trains the muscles of